The House of Lyon: A Griffin's Tale
Rise of Myths and Legends
The sun was rising over Canterlot. Or rather, Princess Celestia was rising the sun for the morning, harnessing her usual magic. For years, she rose it gracefully and expertly into the sky, signaling her ponies a new day for work and play had come. While Celestia rose the sun, the moon was waning under Luna's guidance. Every evening she safe guarded the dreams of her subjects, and crafted a beautiful night sky that select few enjoyed. Each star was shimmering in it's place, and the night was a symphony of blues, blacks, indigos, and violets. The sky at night blended better than any canvas a pony could paint. Every evening it was subtle and new, but not many could spot the differences, excluding Luna of course.
Comparatively, the daytime sky was all manner of blues and whites, and it was always there, like a warm blanket providing reassurance to those under the Princesses' rule. While anypony loved the day or night, to some who knew just how special the day and night were, both held secrets. For Celestia, the sky paved over the planet, hiding and obscuring the realm beyond. For Luna, it showed endless stars and dark colors, but even the night veiled the magnitude of space. No matter who looked, none could have guessed that legends existed out there in the cosmos. And who would guess that they would show up just beyond Equis orbit?
Luna had rose the moon to its place for the evening. As she regaled her work, many ponies wound down from their day jobs. The castle wound down in activity as her Centurions replaced the Royal Guard for the night as per usual. From her tower she observed downtown Canterlot. It was lively this evening, as restaurants and clubs stayed open, music was faintly heard while ponies went about entertaining themselves. After having endured a thousand year exile, changelings, and other fiascoes, things in Equestria had simmered down considerably. For that Luna was grateful. And seeing ponies look out at the sky this evening, well, that warmed her heart a bit.
But in the sky, ponies of any age began to notice something near the moon. A dark shape that was hard to describe obscured the stars near it. It was too dark to be the sky. Faintly, a subtle shape was noticed. As ponies murmured, tension was building. Luna hurriedly looked for the disturbance. She quickly spotted it herself. She knew the night sky's layout better than most. After all, it was her special talent.
"Pray tell... What are thou?" Luna questioned to herself. Quickly getting up, she headed off to her sister's chambers, realizing she needed her sister's opinion. She ran hastily As she crossed the castle walls she descended the stairs and into the inner keep. She quickly navigated the castle, failing to realize teleporting might have been quicker. In her panic she ran as fast as her hooves carried her until she came upon the double oak doors that led right to Celestia's room. She promptly barged in.
"Celestia! Wake thyself! I have dire need of you before night court!" Luna quickly spoke, tone beginning to rise. Celestia, to her credit, had not gone off to bed quite yet. Instead, she was quite transfixed on the night sky from her balcony, eyes wide. Slowly she looked to Luna, who was fidgeting quite nervously. "Luna. Something isn't right." The plain spoken mare said. From Celestia's gaze, it was easy to figure out she looked concerned. It didn't take an expert to know something felt wrong. The usual stoic faced sun goddess was clearly unsettled.
As the two rulers looked back to the sky, the black shape had grown, so to speak. It clearly had come closer, as faint red lights were becoming visible. The night it seemed, was going to very busy. Both mares promptly teleported to the main hall where court was held. It was the unspoken rule that both would skip trotting or walking in times of concern or danger. For now, it fell into "concerned and possibly very dangerous until otherwise." As the nobles for night court had assembled, both Princesses Luna and Celestia had assembled to address the court.
"Councilors and noble ponies, her us now." Spoke the sun ruler. Luna stood at the left, ready to clearly use the Royal Canterlot voice if need be. "It's still early to tell what the black shape is, but send word to everypony to be calm. Luna and I will investigate it." "Aye, we shall investigate the black shape posthaste. Centurions! Inform the public of our news. Thine subjects must be calm!" Luna spoke authoritatively. Quickly, the Centurions and nobles ushered out, dispatching news to the citizenry at large.
Among the crowd that had had been near the castle, the guards of the Centurion division ushered out to dispel the crown who began speaking louder than before, stating that the Princesses had issued for everypony to remain calm while they investigated the slowly growing object in the sky. Ponies were shouting things like "Griffin airships are coming!" and "It's dragons!" The fervor of panic was growing, but with the Centurions issuing orders and showing a measure of control, rioting hadn't quite gripped ponies like it might have usually done.
Midnight Ink, a local librarian, had watched the shape grow in the sky, but had not panicked. Instead, he gazed out, wondering exactly what might be happening. Like any rational pony, he figured it was best to leave. He swished his white and grey mane and left the scene. Trotting briskly on the streets, he made his way home down to Quill Avenue where he entered the alley and up the stairs to his home above the locked up book shop. Entering his dark home, he quickly illuminated his blue horn and lit up the dark home until he found a candle. Once the house had been sufficiently lit, he promptly made for his kitchenette, and gathered up his dishes.
After the menial chores and requisite dinner for one stallion, he made for his bed. Tonight, he would sleep well, and perhaps it would be his last night of genuine night of solid rest.
The House of Lyon: A Griffin's Tale
As Midnight Ink roused himself the next day, the sun shone into the windows brightly. Looking out into the room, he muttered to himself about "too much light" and "flipping starving". Generally speaking, he wasn't a morning pony. At all. In fact he'd have been better sleeping in, but the library won't open itself. With at least an apple to devour and time ticking away, Midnight hurried downstairs to the alley after locking his door and quickly opened the door to his shop. Once inside, the smell of books, ink, quills, and dust hit his nostrils in full effect. For him, it was much better than a sterile apartment.
After about an hour and a half of stocking shelves with fresh supplies and dusting, a customer wandered in. "Hello! Do come in and look around! I'm sure you'll find what you need in here!" called Midnight. As Midnight turned around, he noticed the older stallion making his way through. Midnight had only noticed he was older because of his graying mane and slight wrinkles. Otherwise he was quite spry and fit. "Ah hello there sir, are you the owner by chance?" asked the older gentlecolt.
"Indeed sir. I am. Midnight Ink at your service. Is there something I can help you with?" The older colt took a loot up at a shelf before replying. "Yes, there is. My name is Othello. I'm looking for books on advanced arcanokinetic theory and practice, you see. Recently, I was commissioned by the Princesses to teach her guards about advanced magic." Midnight wondered why the guards of all ponies would need help with that considering they worked directly under Celestia and Luna.
"Well my good sir, follow me, and I might have something. Back in the learning section, under thuamatic practice might be just the thing you need." As the two walked back the desired section, the door bell chimed again. With a cursory glance, Midnight saw a single mare, with a yellow coat and red mane. Quickly back on his task, he directed the older gentlecolt to the book he needed. "There you are sir, right here. The 'Practitioners Guide to Advanced Theory' and 'Starswirl the Bearded's Principle of Magic'. Surely these two books would lend you some help?" "Ah yes, those ought to do quite nicely." replied Othello.
"Ah yes, well very good. Would you like to purchase or rent?" asked the librarian pony. Before any response came, panic outside had erupted. Quite easily, the attention to the books was forgotten. Left to the floor, the two books fell with loud thuds. Outside, ponies ran down the street in a fervor. Midnight watched alongside Othello as they realized what was happening. The dark shape that had quietly moved all night was much more visible. One could tell it was indeed an airship of some sort. But in great detail, it looked much more advanced, Midnight could tell. But aside from the craft, it had apparently fired down a metal sphere into the middle of town. The object had left a large crater in the intersection. The sidewalks and buildings had heaps of dirt piled up beside them.
After the vicinity had been cleared, guards of the royal type had begun investigating the surroundings. To everypony, the sight that had left them speechless before positively left their collective jaws drop. The spherical device that created the crater had begun rising on its own power. Thin metal rods grew on the top portion, and lights begun glowing. Under the bottom, a flame could be seen. Most of all, it moved.
"Sweet Celestia what is that?" whispered Midnight. Othello had been silent, and the red and yellow mare had been intensely watching the scene unfold. With no ready answer available, Midnight resigned himself to watch as the guards backed off the metal sphere. It was noisy, and from what everypony could tell, it looked vaguely uninterested in the guards.
-Command Bridge, aboard vessel 779XV, designation: ESS Lyon.
-Local estimated time: 0847 hours.
-Location: Alpha Cancri A, celestial body designation: ACb.
-Status: Systems nominal, crew accounted for.
"Captains entry 457. We've approached orbit around a planet in the Alpha Cancri system. The planet is strikingly like Earth. The continental landmasses bear most of the similarities we were familiar with back home. The crew is eager to land. But until we know exactly what readings we've gathered, we'll be in orbit near the planet's moon." The captain paused and viewed exactly what there was to see from the bridge. The star, Alpha Cancri A, was unremarkable in every aspect. After being in space for a long period of time, several years in fact, the crew had been more than desperate to find a habitable world. The closest was several hundred light years away.
"Upon consideration, I've decided a probe will do. It will land in a mountain range and begin taking readings. The premature observations and readings read out with nitrogen and oxygen, in a stable ratio for human living. However, weather life persists or not is the question. It is for that reason we will keep visual link with the probe until we decide what option to pursue." With another steel eyed look, the captain signed off with her usual signature. With the log recorded, she turned to her navigators and pilots. With a thoughtful look, she left them to their duty.
Walking down the corridors, officers had crowded what ports and windows they could find. Seeing a new world, especially a habitable one, was exciting. After all, terraforming planets was an expensive endeavor for the government at large. It took billions and billions to train astronauts, more so with ones who were young, and it took dedicated scientists, engineers and medical staff to go into the reaches of space. Aside from Earth, several planets had been under human occupation for sometime. Mars was first, as it was a natural stepping stone to the rest of the solar system. Europa, a moon tidally locked in Jovian orbit had been next. While incredibly cold, a source of liquid water was indeed confirmed and exploited. Tidal friction kept humans on Europa. Water was invaluable.
Next had been the cold methane rich Titan, orbiting around Saturn. It wasn't the easiest place to thrive, but humanity endured there. In the following years, humans gradually built new colonies in neighboring systems. Alpha Centauri was the closest. Pushing further, the distances between colonies began to take a toll. It wasn't until 2177 that signal amplifiers were devised for interstellar space that could help project information more quickly. Spaceships gradually became super complex and expensive to launch and maintain.
As the captain mused to herself, and officer approached. "Captain Geller, ma'am, we have made orbit around the planets moon. Further, volunteers are willing to land there and gather samples for study. By my estimation, we can be there and back on the ship in a span of about three hours." The officer in question was a plain and simple man, with a twang in his voice that suggested he was from Kansas. Like Dorothy of Oz, this man was a long way from home.
Captain Geller was a straight forward kind of woman. She hailed from Manchester, England. She had worked herself harder than any other candidate to gain a captain seat for this expedition. She was young and inexperienced. But she knew the crew, the ship, the mission. She was determined. With that in mind, she made her choice.
"Officer Baristole, send a lander down to the moon once we orbit it, and have a team deploy a probe on the local planet in a mountain range. We're going to determine if this a viable place to settle. From there, notify the crew of the plans, and have them begin exercising their gear and bodies. We need to be fit if we're going planetside. Understood?" she dictated. "Yes ma'am! Right away!" replied the officer before hurriedly saluting and running off. Captain Geller smirked and strode off to the gymnasium. Better follow her own orders she mused.
"Captains entry 458. A few hours later, the ESS Lyon is a frenzy of activity. Scientists had deployed the first probe to a mountain range, as per my orders. The readings were, as they say, astronomical and completely unexpected. Not only was the initial reading of the atmosphere correct, but the probe had picked up sounds of what appeared to be life. Sadly, the camera had malfunctioned and was unusable until someone went down to fix it. However, picking up life signs and standard air pressure was beyond good news. The soldiers were anticipating a landing. The lunar crew had picked up excellent samples and were in the lab. The ship has already begun moving in. It was dark on first approach, but the location of choice had finally came into desired entry. And with light from the star! How lucky we are."
"With landing approaching soon, we've decided it'd be best to land a smaller craft down first. Readings from the probe suggest the gravity is marginally similar to standard Earth gravitational conditions. Again, we are really lucky here. But the idea of life, that's a little concerning. Nothing suggested any life present was a threat. Perhaps it's simple life forms. Either way we'll be finding out soon. Captain Geller, signing off."
With the log over and recorded, the captain had been at her station, observing the planet. In time, she'd be on the lander with her best men and women, ready to settle in a valley by the initial mountain probe. Soon enough, they'll all have a new world to call home. But the work would only just begin. They'd have to broadcast to Earth, Mars, Titan, Europa and other colonies that Alpha Cancri A has a habitable world. Then the following protocols and procedures of procreation, settlement, food production, and resource management were enacted.
But what no human counted on was life. Sentient and sapient life...
Celestia and Luna had noticed that the large craft had noticeably slowed decent and appeared to hover in place. The local citizens had panicked and ran for it. Celestia, much to her chagrin, had asked the guards to handle it. But that metal sphere had crashed itself in a street not far from the castle. Luna had gone out to investigate. Meanwhile, she decided to rouse the scientists and get that metal thing examined. But before she could have done that, the nobles and aristocrats had begun intervening, citing that they had to override her decision to help protect the people. While normally this wasn't ever a bad thing, this time it was a inconvenience.
As she gathered her thoughts, she instead decided to write to Twilight and the Elements of Harmony. They needed to know. So did Cadence, for that matter. For all her wisdom and knowledge, Celestia needed help. She needed it bad.